John Harper

Unidentified Encyclopædia

by
Aguilla Webb

[Extract]

John Harper, the newly called pastor of Moody Church in the early 1900's, manifested his Christian character in the sinking of the Titanic. Dr. W. B. Riley related the death of Harper. "We have the history of John Harper's end, for survivors, brought to harbor in safety, told the same. When the Titanic was struck by the iceberg that drove in her sides, and sent the ship to the bottom, John Harper was leaning against the rail pleading with a young man to come to Christ ...." (Ministers' Research Service)

Four years after the Titanic went down, a young Scotchman rose in a meeting in Hamilton, Canada, and said, "I am a survivor of the Titanic. When I was drifting alone on a spar that awful night, the tide brought Mr. John Harper, of Glasgow, also on a piece of wreck near me. 'Man,' he said, 'are you saved?' 'No,' I said. 'I am not.' He replied, 'Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.'"

"The waves bore him away; but, strange to say brought him back a little later, and he said, 'Are you saved now?' 'No,' I said, 'I cannot honestly say that I am.' He said again, 'Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved,' and shortly after he went down; and there, alone in the night, and with two miles of water under me, I believed. I am John Harper's last convert."